Archive of ‘Chocolate’ category

Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Ritz® Cookies are an annual Christmas family tradition for us, with the “recipe” handed down from my Aunt to my Mom, and then to me. These delectable treats are incredibly FAST and EASY to make, which is perfect for this busy time of year!

Many years ago (at least 15), my Mom shared these cookies with me and told me that her sister, my Aunt Theda in Texas made them for her, and Mom raved about how good they were! I tried a couple, and sure enough, they tasted fantastic. When I asked my Mom how to make them she told me how incredibly easy it was. I really loved my sweet Aunt… she passed away quite a few years ago, but I think of her whenever I make these goodies.

I’ve made these cookies so many times since then, but finally took pictures and decided to share the “recipe” on this blog. I added a white glaze drizzled over the top, and some red and white sprinkles for the Christmas season, but really all you need to make these is 4 ingredients! Here’s how to make a quick dozen of these yummy stacked goodies…

Place 12 Ritz® crackers onto a piece of parchment paper. Spread a teaspoon of creamy peanut butter onto each one. When done, top with another cracker.

Melt 1½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips with 1 HEAPING Tablespoon vegetable shortening in the microwave. Heat on High for 30 seconds. Remove bowl and stir chocolate. Place bowl back in microwave oven and heat an additional 30 seconds on High. Remove bowl and stir mixture until smooth.

Dip cookies, one at a time into melted chocolate mixture. I use a fork to hold the cookie, and sometimes use a spoon to help coat entire cookie with chocolate. Let excess chocolate drip back into bowl, then set cookie back onto parchment paper. Do not move cookie once you set it down. Repeat process with all cookies. Once chocolate has firmed up, they are ready to eat, unless you want to decorate them.

If you want to decorate the cookies, let the cookies sit, undisturbed, until chocolate has firmed up completely. Place powdered sugar in a small bowl. Add only a couple drops of water at a time to the sugar, stirring well, until the glaze has reached a drizzling consistency. Too thin? Add additional powder sugar. Too thick? Add a drop or two of water. Use a fork to drizzle the icing over each cookie. Garnish with colored sprinkles, if desired, while glaze is still wet.

NOTE: You do not have to drizzle powdered sugar glaze on them. You can shorten the process even further by garnishing the fresh dipped chocolate cookies with candy colored sprinkles and leave off the white icing altogether if you want!

Let the icing completely firm up at room temperature. Once chocolate and icing are totally firm, cookies can be transferred to serving plate for serving!

Cookies can be decorated any way you wish. When I make these and it’s NOT Christmas time, I simply leave them plain, with only the chocolate covering them, and no powdered sugar drizzle. They taste good no matter how you fancy them up or not!

The flavor is wonderful in these treats, with the creamy peanut butter AND the chocolate coating going so well together. They remain crunchy from the cracker “shell”, and are so good it will be hard to stay out of them so there’s at least ONE left for good ol’ Santa Claus!

I love to make these family favorites at Christmas time. They are made quickly without a lot of ingredients (a big plus), look good and taste even better! I hope you will consider making them a part of your holiday traditions, too!

Christmas cookies made EASY using store-bought crackers, peanut butter and coated with a simple chocolate topping!

Category: Cookies

Servings: 1dozen

Author: JB at The Grateful Girl Cooks!

Ingredients

For Cookies:

24buttery crackers(I used Ritz® crackers)

12teaspoonscreamy peanut butter

For Chocolate Coating:

1½cupssemi-sweet chocolate chips

1HEAPING Tablespoon vegetable shortening

For White Drizzle:

1cuppowdered sugar

Water( a couple drops at a time)

Instructions

Place 12 crackers onto a piece of parchment paper. Carefully spread a teaspoon of creamy peanut butter onto each one . When done, top with another cracker.

Melt semi-sweet chocolate chips and vegetable shortening in the microwave. Heat on High for 30 seconds. Remove bowl and stir chocolate. Place bowl back in microwave oven and heat an additional 30 seconds on High. Remove bowl and stir mixture until smooth.

Dip cookies, one at a time into melted chocolate mixture. Use a fork to hold the cookie, and a spoon to help coat entire cookie with chocolate. Let excess chocolate drip back into bowl, then set cookie onto parchment paper. Do not move cookie once you set it down. Repeat process with all cookies. Let the cookies sit, undisturbed, until chocolate has firmed up completely.

Place powdered sugar in a small bowl. Add only a couple drops of water at a time to the sugar, stirring well, until the glaze has reached a drizzling consistency. Use a fork to drizzle the icing over each cookie. Garnish with colored sprinkles, if desired, while glaze is still wet.

Let the icing completely firm up at room temperature. Once chocolate and icing are firm, cookies can be transferred to serving plate. Enjoy!

If you’re looking for a quick and easy last minute Christmas treat (a shortcut) to take to a holiday party or give to friends, how about Chocolate Dipped Shortbread Cookies? They LOOK great, taste wonderful, and only take about 10 minutes to make!

These festive looking goodies are so easy because… wait for it… YOU USE STORE-BOUGHT SHORTBREAD COOKIES! That’s a major time-saver right there, folks! I don’t know about you, but the Christmas season seems to get quite busy, whether I want it to or not. Why not take some of the holiday “stress” out of the day, and make these delicious decorated cookies in no time at all?

All you will need are some store-bought shortbread cookies (any shape or size), some milk chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate chips, a bit of vegetable shortening, and Christmas sprinkles to fancy the treats up a bit! I used an assortment of Walker’s Shortbread that my hubby bought in a huge tin at Costco (but Lorna Doone’s are wonderful, as well)! Easy Peasy!

The good part about using store-bought shortbread is that you can “make” as many cookies you want! Here’s how:

Spread a sheet of parchment paper on work surface. Melt chocolate chips and shortening in heat-proof bowl in microwave. 30 Seconds on High. Remove. Stir. 30 seconds on High. Remove. Stir. The chocolate should have melted. If not, place back in for 15 seconds, being careful not to burn it. Dip one end of the cookie into the melted chocolate mixture, making sure to cover all sides. (I use a spoon to help coat it with chocolate).

As soon as the shortbread is covered to your liking, place it onto parchment paper. Once you set it down, don’t move it or the chocolate will smear. Immediately garnish with colored sprinkles (sprinkle them on using your fingers) while chocolate is still wet. Do NOT dip the wet cookie into the sprinkles or it will be a BIG mess.

Repeat process until all cookies are decorated. Let the cookies rest on the parchment paper without moving them until the chocolate has hardened.

Once chocolate is firm, transfer cookies to a serving plate. See how cute they are? I used an assortment of triangular, rectangular and circular shaped cookies!

The cookies would be a perfect hostess gift for a special friend, or served on a pretty Christmas platter at a dessert buffet or Christmas party! They look fancy, but no one needs to know how easy they were to make! I mean, really… who wouldn’t like a sweet, buttery shortbread cookie dipped in chocolate, topped with “Christmasy” looking sprinkles?

Our home is in the middle of a total kitchen remodel this Christmas season, so we have nothing in the kitchen at the moment except walls, floor and ceiling. I made the cookies pictured above in October before construction began and froze them, so I would still be able to give my neighbors plates of yummy goodies at Christmas, as is my tradition!

I may not have a kitchen, but I can still give gifts of food! (I might have even saved a few for my husband and I as well!). Yum! Hope you’ll enjoy making and eating these Christmas cookies!

In a microwave-safe bowl, place chocolate chips and shortening. Heat on high in microwave for 30 seconds. Remove bowl from microwave. Stir well. Place bowl back in microwave and microwave on high for an additional 30 seconds. Remove bowl from microwave. Stir well, until mixture is smooth. If necessary, place back in microwave for 15 seconds, then stir.

Dip the end or part of the cookie in melted chocolate, being sure to coat all sides. Let excess drip back into bowl, then place cookie onto parchment paper and do not move it. Garnish cookie immediately with colored sprinkles while chocolate is still wet.

Repeat process with all cookies. If necessary, make another 1/2 batch of melted chocolate to finish cookies or coat additional cookies. Let cookies rest on parchment paper for at least an hour or until chocolate has hardened. Transfer to serving platter, and enjoy!

Decadent, rich, simple to prepare (in under 10 minutes!) and extremely delicious… those are the first words that come to mind when describing these Irish Chocolate Pots de Crème! I made this amazing dessert a couple weeks ago for a family get together… oh my goodness! Soooo good! “Pots de Crème” is actually a French dessert “custard” that dates back to the 17th century. It’s name literally means “pots of cream”. Let me tell you… it’s much thicker than pudding or mousse and is extremely rich (so rich I told my guests that it would put hair on their chests!). It may be rich, but oh boy, it is DELICIOUS!

The preparation takes less than 10 minutes, which is an added benefit! I’d been drooling over the recipe, originally posted on a favorite blogger’s website called “The Café Sucre Farine” (thecafesucrefarine.com), so I gave in and decided to make it! If you’ve never checked out this website, I would encourage you to do so. Chris shares phenomenal recipes, and her husband Scott shares in the fun with his amazing photography work… it’s a wonderful, creative website for food lovers.

Anyways… the method to making these is to simply use a blender. Yep… that’s right! Ingredients are blended together, then poured into small dessert cups (the dessert is very rich, so small servings are the best!). I also made a Bailey’s Irish Cream syrup which was drizzled onto the tops of the finished Pots de Creme, then they were garnished with whipped cream, a sprig of fresh mint (and dessert cookies!). Easy and delicious… you’re gonna LOVE this dessert! Here’s how to make it:

Before you begin, make sure you have your dessert dishes ready to go. Place them on a baking sheet. The dessert bowls I used (Libby Tasting Bowls) hold 4.25 ounces (just over 1/2 cup), so I ended up with 6 portions (I set out 8 cups but only needed 6). The total amount of servings will depend on the size dish you use.

Chocolate chips, sugar, Bailey’s Irish Cream Liqueur, an egg, and sea salt are placed into a blender. The ingredients are pulsed several times, just to mix them up a bit (they will not be fully blended).

Take out the center cap from the blender lid and place a funnel directly into the opening. Place lid back on blender (I took it off to take the photo).

Into a large microwave safe bowl, pour the whipping cream. Make sure to use a large bowl, because the cream will be microwaved, and will rise up as it heats. I used a glass bowl so I could see to make sure the whipping cream didn’t bubble up and over the top of the bowl. Heat the whipping cream in the microwave on high power for 2 to 2½ minutes, until the cream is really bubbling. You can see from the photo below how high the cream rose in the bowl, and what the bubbling cream looked like when I took it out of microwave.

Turn blender on LOW and blend ingredients already in there for 15 seconds. SLOWLY pour the hot whipping cream through the funnel into the chocolate mixture while mixing on low. Once you’ve added all the cream, put your hand over the top of the funnel (to cover), and turn the speed up to HIGH. Let the mixture blend on high for one minute. When done, carefully pour the chocolate into the serving bowls. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.

The dessert is PERFECT to serve once chilled just as it is, BUT… if you want to kick it up a notch and make the Bailey’s Irish Cream Syrup to garnish the finished dessert, it can be made while the dessert is chilling. It’s VERY SIMPLE to prepare, and added an extra pop of flavor to the finished dessert. Irish Cream liqueur is poured into a little saucepan and brought to a boil on medium heat. The liqueur is boiled and stirred for 2-3 minutes until it has reduced in volume and turned syrupy. Remove from heat and let cool. That’s it! As the syrup cools down, it will thicken a little bit more. Let syrup cool to room temperature before serving.

I also decided to add some more calories fancy cookies to garnish the finished dessert, so I found these at our local grocery store… perfect!

When ready to serve, garnish each serving with whipped cream and a sprig of fresh mint, then drizzle a tiny bit of the Bailey’s syrup over the top, and insert a couple fancy cookies into the chocolate! You can see in the picture below the Bailey’s syrup on top of the chocolate.

That, my friends, is how you make this incredible dessert, with very little effort or time involved, but with amazing results! I made the dessert in the morning, then simply added the garnishes when ready to serve later that evening! Easy!

Sure hope you will consider making this wonderful, decadent chocolate dessert. I will definitely be making this recipe again! Have a wonderful day, and remember to show love, respect, and kindness to all you meet today. God Bless You.

Put the chocolate chips, sugar, Bailey's Irish Cream, egg, and sea salt into a blender. Pulse the ingredients several times, just to mix them up a bit (they won't be fully blended). Take out the center cap from blender lid and place a funnel directly into the opening.

Pour the whipping cream into a large microwave safe bowl. Use a large bowl, because the cream will be microwaved, and will rise up as it heats. (I used a glass bowl so I could see to make sure the whipping cream didn't bubble up and over the top of the bowl). Heat whipping cream in microwave on high power for 2 to 2½ minutes, until the cream is REALLY bubbling.

Turn blender on LOW and blend ingredients for 15 seconds. SLOWLY pour the hot whipping cream through the funnel into the chocolate mixture while blending on LOW (the very hot cream will help cook the raw egg). Once you've added all the cream, put your hand over the top of the funnel (to cover), and turn speed up to HIGH. Let the mixture blend on high for one minute. When done, carefully pour the chocolate into the serving bowls. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.

To Make The Bailey's syrup (optional):

If you want Bailey's Irish Cream Syrup to garnish the finished dessert, it can be made while the desserts are chilling. Irish Cream liqueur is poured into a little saucepan, then brought up to a boil on medium heat. The liqueur is boiled for 2-3 minutes until it has reduced in volume and turned syrupy. Remove from heat and let cool. As the syrup cools, it will thicken a little bit more. Let syrup cool to room temperature before serving.

To serve:

Garnish each of the chilled pots de crème with whipped cream, and a sprig of fresh mint, then drizzle a little bit of the Bailey's syrup over the top. Add a couple fancy cookies to the chocolate, if desired! Serve, and enjoy!

As a kid growing up, one of my favorite occasional “treats” was when my Mom would make our family chocolate chip pancakes. We ALL loved them! I’ve made them for my family for many years, but when I stumbled upon this recipe for PUMPKIN Chocolate Chip Pancakes, I knew I had to make these…stat! This past week I made Pumpkin Spice Latte Biscotti, and had some leftover pumpkin puree in the fridge… (conveniently the exact amount I needed for this recipe). So, into the kitchen I went to make this breakfast! The recipe was very simple to prepare (only took 5 minutes to prep), and the “from scratch” pancakes are delicious! The taste of pumpkin, cinnamon, allspice, and chocolate chips are amazing in these pancakes! Yes, they are a bit sweet, but I figured since we only have pancakes occasionally, it wouldn’t be TOO bad.

Here’s how you whip up a batch of these delicious pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes:

In a large bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice and semi-sweet chocolate chips. (Bet you didn’t even break into a sweat…)

In a separate bowl, stir the brown sugar, egg, vanilla, pumpkin puree, and oil together until fully combined.

Stir in the buttermilk and blend well.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir well, until mixture is fully blended. Do not overstir.

Pour pancake batter onto a pre-heated griddle (350 degrees) or large skillet (heated on medium-high) that has been sprayed with a non-stick spray or a little oil. Cook pancakes about 3 minutes or until little air bubbles form on top of the batter.

Carefully flip the pancakes over and continue cooking other side for 2-3 minutes.

When done, serve immediately with some butter and maple syrup, and ENJOY!

I saved you a bite, but only ONE. You’re welcome! Here you go… isn’t that delicious?

Hope you will these scrumptious pancakes a try. I think you will really enjoy them. (I made half a recipe and it made 5 good sized pancakes). The full recipe (shown below in printable form) yields approximately 10-12 pancakes.

Enjoy an amazing taste of Fall with these delicious Pumpkin and Chocolate Chip filled pancakes! YUM!

Category: Breakfast

Servings: 10-12 pancakes

Author: JB at The Grateful Girl Cooks!

Ingredients

2cupsall purpose flour

2teaspoonsbaking powder

1teaspoonbaking soda

2teaspooncinnamon

1/2teaspoonallspice

1cupsemi-sweet chocolate chips

1/4cupbrown sugar

1egg

1teaspoonvanilla extract

1cuppumpkin puree(not pumpkin pie mix)

3Tablespoonsvegetable or canola oil

1 1/2cupsbuttermilk(*see notes)

non-stick spray or a bit of oil(used to grease griddle or skillet)

Instructions

In a large bowl, whisk together the all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice and the chocolate chips. Set aside.

In another bowl, blend together the brown sugar, egg, vanilla extract, pumpkin puree and oil. Mix well, then add in the buttermilk, stirring well.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Stir until combined, but do not over stir.

Spray a griddle or large skillet with non-stick spray or lightly grease with oil.

Preheat grill to 350 degrees or heat skillet on medium-high. When hot, pour batter for pancakes onto griddle. Cook for about 3 minutes, or until tiny air bubbles begin to form on top of each pancake. Carefully flip the pancakes over, and continue cooking for another 2-3 minutes.

Serve pancakes hot, and top with a dollop of butter and some maple syrup. Enjoy!

Recipe Notes

If you do not have buttermilk, you can easily make your own (I did this for the pancakes): Place 1 1/2 Tablespoons white vinegar in a large measuring cup. Add milk up to the 1 1/2 cup level. Stir. Let it sit for 5 minutes, then use it in the recipe as indicated. It is a perfect substitution!!!

I have several friends who “do the happy dance” each Fall, when their local coffee stand begins offering their seasonal Pumpkin Spice Lattes. Cracks me up to see how fast the “news” spreads via Social Media. Well… if you like Pumpkin Spice Lattes, then I would be willing to bet you will love these Pumpkin Spice Latte Biscotti!I saw this recipe pop up on Pinterest and thought I would give it a try. I’ve made biscotti before (here’s my recipe for Orange Almond Biscotti -yum!), so I knew I would enjoy the flavor combination of these… how can you go wrong with a great coffee drink in cookie form? A little pumpkin and spice, coupled with a slight taste of coffee in the biscotti? Umm, yes, please!

Here’s how easy these are to make:

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and spices, then set aside. See the ground coffee? Yes!

Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar together until creamy, then add in eggs, and beat well.

Add pumpkin puree and vanilla extract; beat these well.

Now add in the dry ingredients, a little at a time, beating well until ingredients are fully combined.

The batter will look like this when done… see the little coffee granules? Ooh…

Spoon the soft dough onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Make two separate mounds (about 3 inches wide by 12 inches long) of dough several inches away from each other (cause the dough will spread while baking).

Using moistened hands, shape the dough into 3 inch wide by 12 inch long logs, remembering to leave several inches space between logs, cause they will spread when baking.

Bake in a preheated 300 degree oven for 35-40 minutes, until firm. (mine took 40 minutes). Please see my note on oven temp. in the NOTES section of the printable recipe! When done, remove pan from oven; let biscotti rest for a full 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, remove the biscotti logs to a cutting board (remove the parchment paper), and carefully slice each log into 12 one inch slices, using a serrated knife to cut.

Once cut, carefully move the slices one at a time (I used the blade of the knife) back to a baking sheet (no parchment paper needed this time), making sure to place the cut side down. After 15 minutes, remove biscotti from oven, and turn them over. Put them back in the oven and bake an additional 15 minutes (I actually let the second cooking go for 20 minutes).

When done, remove the biscotti to a wire rack and let the cookies cool down completely.

While biscotti cools, make a chocolate drizzle to decorate them with. Melt chocolate chips and a little shortening in the microwave. (30 seconds on high. Stir. 30 seconds on high. Stir.)

Drizzle the tops of the biscotti (I use a honey dipper, but you can use a fork, etc.). Let harden, then “PAINT” the bottoms of each biscotti with the melted chocolate, using a pastry brush. Let harden.

Once chocolate has hardened up on the top and bottom of biscotti, they are ready to eat… or dunk in a hot cup of coffee!

Hope you enjoy this little taste of FALL! Have a great day, and may God bless the work of your hands this day!

A delicious pumpkin biscotti cookie that tastes like the popular Pumpkin Spice Latte drink of the Fall season!

Category: Cookie

Servings: 2dozen

Author: JB at The Grateful Girl Cooks!

Ingredients

For the biscotti:

3cupsall purpose flour

1 1/2teaspoonsbaking powder

2 1/2teaspoonsfinely ground coffee(grounds)

1/4teaspoonsalt

2teaspoonscinnamon

1teaspoonginger

1/2teaspoonnutmeg

1/2cupbutter(at room temperature!)

1cupgranulated sugar

3large eggs

1teaspoonvanilla extract

For The Chocolate Drizzle:

1cupsemi-sweet chocolate chips

1 1/2Tablespoonsvegetable shortening

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, coffee grounds, and spices until well combined. Set bowl aside.

Place the room temp. butter and sugar in a mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat with mixer on high until completely smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time. Beat the mixture well after adding each egg. When smooth, add the pumpkin puree and the vanilla extract. Beat this well.

Turn the mixer to low and gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients (a little at a time), while mixer is running, until completely combined.

Spoon the dough out onto a parchment paper-covered baking sheet. Divide dough evenly into 2 separate log shapes, about 12 inches long by 3 inches wide (approx.). Wet your hands and shape the dough into a smooth log (12 x 3). REMEMBER TO KEEP LOGS SEVERAL INCHES APART AS THEY WILL SPREAD WHILE BAKING!

Bake the dough at 300 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until firm. When done, remove pan from oven and let dough rest for 10 minutes.

Remove dough logs to a cutting board (remove parchment paper). Carefully slice each log into 12 one inch slices, using a serrated knife. Place biscotti slices, CUT SIDE DOWN onto baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes; remove pan from oven. Turn the biscotti slices over, return pan to oven, and cook an additional 15-20 minutes. When done, remove from oven. Carefully place biscotti on wire racks to completely cool.

To make chocolate drizzle:

Place chocolate chips and vegetable shortening in microwave safe bowl. Microwave on HIGH for 30 seconds. Stir. Microwave again for 30 seconds. Remove from microwave and stir well, until smooth. Drizzle over each biscotti. Let chocolate harden. Use a pastry brush to brush chocolate on the bottom of each biscotti. Let chocolate fully harden, then they are ready to eat!

Recipe Notes

*FYI- I noticed that these biscotti were not as crunchy the day after I made them. After looking at my other recipes for biscotti, I'm convinced the lower oven temp. for this particular recipe played a part. Next time, I will bake these at 350 degrees, then place the cut slices standing upright on sheet (as opposed to flipping to both sides), and bake for approx. 20-25 min. until firm and set... cause we want crunchy biscotti, right?

This morning I am posting a recipe for Maple Bacon Pecan Truffles that I made for a bacon-themed dinner we enjoyed with dear friends a couple months ago. They’re sooo good! This was an extremely hard post to write, because I began to write this post over a week ago, but then tragedy struck. The host for that dinner (my husband’s best friend) passed away very suddenly this past weekend, and we have been in shock ever since, grieving his loss. He and his wife were two of our very best friends so we grieve for her, as well. Our comfort comes because our dear friend Richard believed in and knew Jesus, so we know this is a “temporary” loss, because we trust in God’s Word that we will see him again in heaven. How we long for that great reunion!

Richard… this one’s in your honor today, as I know you tried these truffles the last time we shared a meal together. We loved you… with all our hearts, and miss you terribly already.

Soooo… *takes a deep breath** … Here’s how to make these really delicious truffles, (which I adapted from my recipe for Maple Cream Bon Bons) for our Bacon Themed dinner. I figured bacon makes everything better, so that was my inspiration. Here’s what I did:

First, cook 6-7 slices of bacon until VERY crisp.

When bacon is crisp, drain, cool, then crumble or chop it up into very small pieces. Set aside a small amount to be used for garnishing the finished truffles later.

Place the butter, powdered sugar and ,maple flavoring in a large bowl or base of electric stand mixer..

Using an electric mixer, cream these ingredients until fully combined and creamy.

Add chopped pecans and most of the bacon crumbles (set some of the bacon crumbles aside for garnishing truffles later). Mix well until combined. Refrigerate mixture for a while to let it chill and firm up.

Once mixture is chilled, shape the mixture into 1″ balls, by rolling them between your hands. Place dough balls onto a wax paper covered cooking sheet, then place them into freezer for 1/2 an hour to firm up again. Remove truffles from freezer and carefully dip each one into the melted chocolate/butterscotch coating. My picture turned out blurry (sorry), but I use a toothpick inserted into truffle to dip into the chocolate, and a spoon to help cover each one.

Dip each truffle completely in chocolate, then place onto wax paper or aluminum foil. Use another toothpick to help pull the first toothpick out of the truffle. See the little holes on top of the chocolate covered truffles? Repeat until all truffles are coated.

Spoon a little melted chocolate over the hole created by the toothpick to cover it up. Then sprinkle a few bacon crumbles over the top to garnish.

Let the finished truffles sit for a while (at least half an hour), to allow the chocolate to firm up, then place them into little candy sized paper wrappers, as shown. Keep truffles in a covered container in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve.

Here’s an inside view… they are at their very best served chilled!

Hope you enjoy them. The maple, pecans, bacon, chocolate and butterscotch flavors make this an INCREDIBLY delicious truffle, and they really aren’t that hard to make, either!

God Bless You. Have a great day. Hold your family and friends close. Let them KNOW you love and care for them. Life IS short.

Cook bacon slices until very crisp. Drain, then crumble or chop into small pieces once cooled. Set aside.

In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to cream the butter, powdered sugar, and maple flavoring until smooth.

Stir in chopped pecans and most of the bacon crumbles (remember to save some for garnishing the finished truffles!)

Place bowl in refrigerator for half an hour to let it firm up a bit.

When chilled, shape the dough into 1 inch balls, by rolling the dough between your hands (yes, it might be a bit messy...) Place the dough balls onto a wax paper or foil lined baking sheet and place into freezer for about half an hour or so. (You want the dough to be very chilled before dipping in chocolate).

While dough is in freezer, make the chocolate/butterscotch coating. In a microwavable bowl, melt the chocolate and butterscotch chips (30 seconds on HIGH. Stir. 30 seconds on HIGH. Stir again. Watch carefully so that you don't burn the chocolate. At this point the chips should be melted and smooth after stirring the second time; if not, microwave an additional 15 seconds, then stir again.

Dip dough balls into coating mixture one at a time (I insert a toothpick into the dough ball, dip, cover with coating then remove, allowing the excess to drip back into the bowl. You may find it helpful to use a spoon to help coating the truffle. Place each coated truffle onto wax paper or foil-lined baking sheets. Remove the toothpick after each one, and re-use on the next truffle.

When all have been coated, hide the toothpick hole with a small bit of chocolate coating, then sprinkle (while it is still wet) with a few bacon crumbles for garnish.

Let truffles sit until chocolate firms up. Place each truffle in a candy paper wrapper, if desired. Store in a covered container in refrigerator until chocolate has hardened and is ready to serve. These truffles are at their best when completely chilled.

A couple years ago, my husband tried a piece of Chocolate-Covered Bacon at a little bakery, while out of our area on business. He said it was fantastic (I had my doubts). Now, don’t get me wrong… I love bacon, but chocolate covered bacon seemed a bit wonky to me. That is, UNTIL I MADE MY OWN! Wowzers! It’s fantastic, and EASY to make! My husband and I recently attended a THEMED dinner party with dear friends. The theme this time was BACON. All parts of the meal had to include some form of bacon. Everything. Beverages, appetizers, entrees (3), and desserts. All bacon inspired. I was in charge of the desserts, (as I typically am). One of the desserts I made was chocolate covered bacon strips. YUM! Even after being coated in semi-sweet chocolate, the bacon was crispy inside. The chocolate actually is a perfect counter balance to the saltiness of the bacon.

It really was easy to make these. I didn’t have a “recipe”; I just used the technique I use for dipping truffles in chocolate. My fingers got a bit messy, but that’s no big deal. Here’s what I did.

First I fried the number of bacon strips I wanted. This recipe is for 8, but you can easily alter recipe to accommodate the number of strips you want to make. I cooked the bacon strips until they were very crispy, then drained them on a paper towel to absorb the grease.

The next thing I did was carefully (the bacon is crisp, remember?) dip one piece of bacon at a time in the chocolate. I used a spoon to help cover about 3/4 of the piece on both sides with chocolate, then carefully flipped it over and did the remaining bit on both sides. I used a spoon to spoon the chocolate into nooks and crannies that needed help to be covered. I let the excess chocolate drip back into the bowl.

After each piece was completely covered in chocolate, I carefully placed it on a piece of aluminum foil to let the chocolate firm up.

Once the chocolate had firmed up, I melted some white chocolate chips (about 1/2 cup) with a small amount of shortening (1 teaspoon), then decoratively drizzled it over the bacon slices. I even had some green colored chocolate chips from a bag of Christmas colored ones, so I also drizzled that over, for contrast (optional). At our bacon dinner that evening, one of my friends wondered if I had put mint flavored drizzle (the GREEN chips) on the bacon. No way… just used a different colored semi-sweet chocolate chip!

When I was done being “creative” (ha ha), I let the bacon slices firm up completely before attempting to remove them from the aluminum foil. I then placed them in a single layer in a sealed plastic container, and kept them in the refrigerator until ready to serve later that evening. The truffles you see in the picture (with the bacon strips) are another creation I made for bacon night. Here’s the recipe for these Maple Bacon Pecan Truffles. (they were yummy, too!)

That’s it! It’s really not hard to make these, at all! Hope you will give it a try. Bacon just seems to make everything better… even chocolate!

Place 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. Add the shortening. Cook on high power for 30 seconds. Remove. Stir. Place bowl back in microwave. Cook on high power for 30 seconds. Stir well, to fully combine. If mixture is not fully smooth, place it back in microwave on medium high power for 15 seconds (I usually don't have to do this, but you might, depending on the wattage of your microwave). DO NOT BURN THE CHOCOLATE!

Carefully coat all sides of the bacon strips with melted chocolate. Using a spoon to help get the chocolate onto the bacon works great! Place coated bacon strips onto aluminum foil, and let sit, undisturbed until chocolate has set.

Melt white chocolate chips and shortening in the exact same way as described above. Decoratively drizzle the mixture over the chocolate covered strips. Let sit until chocolate is completely firmed up, then place bacon strips in a covered container and refrigerate until ready to serve. Enjoy!

So… here’s the backstory on this Healthy Chocolate Banana “Ice Cream”… there’s no cream in this at all! As a matter of fact, there are only TWO ingredients. Frozen bananas and cocoa powder. And amazing as it seems, I was skeptical the first time I tried it, but boy was I surprised!!! It tasted GREAT! All the flavor of chocolate banana ice cream, but it’s NOT ice cream (i.e. take note, calorie-counters!)

The only thing you need to have is a food processor or a majorly powerful blender (and some previously frozen bananas!) to mix this up really, really well. I am fortunate that I was given one that a family member no longer wanted… yay! That makes this a breeze to make.

You know those bananas on the counter that have turned brown? Yeah. Put them into your freezer instead of throwing them away. They are very sweet and are what makes this so yummy. See these gnarly looking bananas? Frozen solid. Yep.

So… you take those completely frozen bananas, peel them, slice them… and throw ’em into your food processor. I used 7 frozen bananas in these pics, by the way.

Put the lid on and fire up your food processor to go to town on the frozen banana chunks. After a minute or so it should look like this…

That’s when I added 4 Tablespoons cocoa powder.

I turned the machine back on and kept on pulsing/mixing the ingredients together. Have no fear… this WILL work! Be patient.

After several minutes (when you think it’s NOT ever gonna turn into anything that resembles ice cream (and you’re starting to get hungry)… all of a sudden this happens… Whoa… bet ya didn’t see THAT happening! When it has turned into a smooth, delectable looking, dare I say “Ice Cream-y” looking mixture, stop processing.

Now you can either eat a part of it right then, OR (my personal recommendation), put it into a sealed container in the fridge for awhile and let it firm up some more.

That’s what it looks like going into the freezer. Once frozen, when ready to serve, let it sit out for a few minutes to thaw slightly, then scoop yourself some of this delicious goodness. Enjoy every bite, knowing you just saved some serious calories by not pigging out on regular ice cream, but really enjoyed this delicious treat instead!!! Remember… 7 bananas, 4 T. cocoa powder, and MIX, MIX, MIX. (makes approx. five or six 1/2 cup servings).

I thought everyone had heard of this kind of “ice cream” before, but we had a friend visit here recently. She had never heard of this before, so I let her try some… and she was quite surprised how good it was! See? Scientific proof. Absolutely 1 out of 1 houseguests recommend this treat! Hope you will give it a try, as well. You’re gonna love it!

Wow… just typing out the title of this recipe almost took longer than it does to make this delicious, single serving deep dish chocolate chip cookie! So here’s the backstory. Ever have one of those evenings when you just want ONE chocolate chip cookie? Yeah… me neither. Usually it’s two or three, if I’m being truthful. BUT… here’s an incredibly easy recipe to make just ONE, in case you ever get the urge for something sweet late at night. Easy to mix up (only takes a few minutes), and then you microwave it for a minute. How hard can that be, right? And it’s so quick to make. And good. Especially with a tiny scoop of vanilla ice cream!

Hope you enjoy this… I know the first time I saw one of these posted on Facebook by my husband’s cousin, I jumped up, ran into the kitchen… and whipped out two of them; one each for my hubby and myself in just a few minutes. YUM!

Okay… have you ever had one of those nights when you craved chocolate so bad… and there was nothing to be found in the house, and it was too late to head to the store? Well, I experienced that several months ago, and these delicious & easy Chocolate Peanut Butter Grahams were the result! After opening every kitchen cabinet and drawer hoping I would find some old piece of chocolate just waiting to be found and devoured, I gave up the search. Tragic. But then… miracle of miracles, I remembered I had a small amount of chocolate chips… and peanut butter… and some graham crackers. I put my thinking cap on (I guess most of the time I don’t have my thinking cap ON… which might explain a lot!), and decided to make these yummy little snacks. No recipe to use… only my brain and chocolate cravings (a dangerous combo, I might add) created these little munchies.

Anyways, they ended up tasting fantastic. I got my chocolate fix, and thankfully I survived. The ingredients are so simple, I am not even gonna bother posting a fancy recipe. But these babies are good. Really good. The crunch of the graham crackers, combined with a peanut butter/chocolate combo = YUM!

Here’s what ya do:

1) Grab some graham crackers. Break them in half, carefully until they are in squares. Go crazy. Use as many as you like. (I only made 7). I won’t tell you how many of them I personally ate… wouldn’t be prudent.

2) Spread creamy or crunchy peanut butter (whatever floats your boat) fairly thick on one half all the way to edges. Put another half graham cracker on top. Are you tired yet? I know this is physically demanding….if you feel like you need to sit down and rest after one or two are “sandwiched” together, go ahead. I feel your pain..

3) In a small microwave safe bowl, melt 1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips plus 2 Tablespoons of vegetable shortening in the microwave. Cook on high for 30 seconds. Stir well. If not all the way melted and smooth, put it back in the microwave for 30 seconds. Remove. Stir well. By now the chocolate and shortening should be completely melted. If not, put it back in for only 10 seconds. Stir until smooth. (Do not overcook or it will BURN…bad news if you’re hungry!)

4) Put some foil or a cookie sheet on the counter (to catch drips). Place a second sheet of foil on counter (to place the dipped cookies on) Carefully dip the filled graham crackers into the melted chocolate (spoon chocolate onto crackers, if necessary). I held and dipped the grahams with one hand, and used a spoon in the other to help cover grahams with the chocolate. Coat all sides of the graham crackers completely. If you run out of chocolate, just follow step 3 again. Place chocolate coated grahams onto aluminum foil and do not move them until chocolate has completely hardened (in about 1/2 hour or so). If you’re desperate, you can put them in the refrigerator to speed the firming up process along. Once chocolate has hardened, remove from foil and serve. I stored them, covered, in the refrigerator to keep the chocolate firm.

That’s it! “Late Night Chocolate Deprivation Catastrophe Averted”! Hope you will give these a try… they are sooooo good! Have a great day!